News

2013-12-06 16:55:37.027

Oklahoma Woman Scores $100,000 Missouri Lottery Prize

Lorinda Morris of Haworth, Okla., rarely plays the Missouri Lottery. Naturally, she was quite surprised when a trip to Missouri resulted in a $100,000 win. Morris, 44, explained that her husband was working on a pipeline in Missouri and only had one day off for Thanksgiving. So, Lorinda and daughter, Alyson, loaded up the truck and headed to Warrensburg to spend the day with him.

“He plays here and there,” began Morris. “He had a winning ticket and some Mega Millions and Powerball tickets stacked up, so I told him I would take them up to the store to check.”

Her husband, Stephen, told her to go to Casey’s General Store. But, Lorinda didn’t know where anything was in town and drove past her intended stop. As luck would have it, she went to turn around in the parking lot of Discount Smokes & Liquor, 1034 Maquire St., in Warrensburg.

“I thought, ‘I bet they sell Lottery tickets there,’” recalled Morris. “I stuck my head in the door and asked, and she said, ‘Yes.’ They had a self-checker, and she showed me how to use it.”

Morris discovered about $4 in winning tickets, and cashed them in with a winning Scratchers ticket. She bought a few more Scratchers, including one “Happy Holidays” ticket.

After rejoining the family, Morris was scratching the “Happy Holidays” ticket and started to get excited and confused, not being a regular player.

“I said, ‘I think I just won $20,000! How many times can you win $20,000?’ because I didn’t know what I was doing,” she related.

Stephen took the ticket, scanned the directions and determined the ticket was worth $100,000.

Shocked, Morris snatched the ticket out of his hand and quickly returned to the store to confirm the win. There, the clerks were as excited as she.

“A very blessed Thanksgiving,” said Morris. “I’m still in shock and disbelief. I just can’t seem to wrap my head around it.”

She said she would use the money to pay some of the “smaller bills that eat you up every month.” They recently bought her father’s farm in Oklahoma, and Morris hoped the money would help keep it viable so that they could hand it down to their children.

Morris was too cautious to become a regular lottery player in Oklahoma.

“But if I come through Missouri again, you can bet your butt I’ll play,” she laughed.

“Happy Holidays” is a $5 game that officially began Oct. 21. Morris claimed the second of four top prizes in the game; more than $4 million in prizes remain. All non-winning holiday-themed Missouri Lottery Scratchers games are eligible for entry in the “Dashing Through The Snow” second-chance promotion. Players can win one of 12 shopping trips to Chicago, $1,000 shopping sprees or $500 in cash.